Travel
Detailed travel logs and trip journals live here. Expect day‑by‑day itineraries (e.g., our Switzerland & Italy trip) with weather notes, meals and family anecdotes, plus posts on museum visits, road‑trips and cruises.
- Great breakfast at iQ Hotel. Impressive spread.
- Check out of hotel.
- M3 train to Duomo
- Explore Galleria Vitoria Emanuele
- Get coffee at Marchesi
- Take full tour of Duomo. Incredible! Rooftop views are impressive.
- Tammy and Tyler run to get take home gift for his friends. Jamie and Mazie take pictures in Duomo plaza while thunderstorm approaches.
- Duck into Metro just as storm arrives and take M3 back to Central FS.
- Train 9735 from Milan to Venice
- Arrived in Venice
- Take water bus 4.2 to hotel
- Checkin at Combo
- Poor choice and decide to have a fairly simple and non-Italian dinner at the hotel
- Walk around Venice for an hour and see the city. Amazing golden hour photo opportunities.
- Return to Combo hotel.
- Amazing breakfast at iQ Motel
- Catch express train 8803 from Milan to Modena for Ferrari Day!
- Walk out of train station wrong way because of cute train mural on walls
- Walk to Enzo Ferrari Museam
- Briefly explore the smaller side of museam
- Shuttle to Maranello
- See the museam- Jamie shed some tears at the F1 racing display
- Photo shoot in yellow Ferrari
- Lunch at Museam Cafe (much better than the equivalent in the US and cheaper)
- Panaramic factory tour- short naps for all
- Shuttle back to Modena
- Racing simulation for Mazie and Tyler
- See larger section of the Rnzo Ferrari museam
- Macarons, coffee, and chocolate crumble at museam cafe
- Walk back to train station and wait for delayed train
- Train back to Milan- seating troubles
- Train 40 mins late, so have to take a White Taxi to Mad Machines
- Taxi driver hauls it like we’re on the Amazing Race, but we are still 5 mins late
- Time Machine: another amazing escape room with so many rooms and creative challenges
- Tram to Pizzeria Fabrico
- Delicious pizza, pasta, and tiramisu
- Metro back to hotel
- 😴
- Breakfast in Soglio and sending goodbyes to our hiking group: Dave, Erik, Gary, and Theresa 👋
- Tammy and kids explore Soglio while Jamie has a cappuccino and tended to tasks on the deck
- 🚌 B 632 to Promontogna nice and easy with bus waiting for us
- 🚌 B 4 to Chiavenna super packed bus that we barely squeezed on and had to stand with all our luggage
- 🚊R 10165 Train to Colico
- 🚊R 2825 Train to Varenna
- Lunch at Locando Cavanillo
- 🚊Train to Milan
- Check into iQ Motel
- Take M2 train to Porto Geneva
- Walk to Pizza & Mozarella for delicious pizza
- Walk to Mad Machines
- Escape the Birth room at Mad Machines!
- Walk back to Porto Geneva stop and take M2 back to central station
- return to hotel super tired and debate which train to take tomorrow. Pick 8:05am departure.
- Breakfast at Hotel Edelweiss
- Tammy gets trail lunch at Volg
- Bus to Vicosoprano
- Begin hike to Soglio
- Hunkered down to avoid thunderstorm
- Resumed hike with long ascent
- Beautiful trail across several waterfalls
- Slippery rocks: Tyler falls twice, Jamie slips many times and falls once
- Amazing Roman Road on trail
- Arrive in Soglio
- Explore village
- Shop at Soglio Products for various lotions
- Cappuccino and snack at Palazzo Salis while waiting out another downpour
- Return to hotel for rain gear
- Tyler and Dad watch end of Tour de France stage. Tyler writes another blog post. Mazie and Mom shop in village.
- All Go out for photo walk in Soglio.
- Final group dinner.
- Breakfast at hotel
- Walk from hotel for hike
- Hike begins with a gentle ascent above the treeline
- Walk through amazing village of Grevasalvas
- Break at rocky overlook before descending
- Descend and take path around lake
- Lunch on the trail
- Return to Sils Maria
- Tammy and Mazie do some shopping, buy cool local bowls
- Coffee and snacks at Grond Cafe
- Mazie and Tyler explore
- Tammy and Jamie relax
- Dinner at hotel with delicious Apple Strudel for dessert!
- Hike out of Pontresina through town up the trail
- Sought cover from heavy rain
- Rolling walk with a final ascent to Hahnensee Hut
- Picnic lunch on a rock at Lake Hahnensee
- Descended down to Silvaplana
- Bus from hotel to train station
- Train back to Guarda
- Bus to Guarda Village
- Recover wallet! 🤩
- Bus back to train station.
- Train to Samedan to change lines
- Train to St Moritz to transfer to bus
- Bus to Sils Maria
- Walk out to Nietzsche’s Rock
- Started raining hard so walked to Silvaplana instead of walking back
- All meet together in Silvaplana to catch the bus back to Sils Maria
- Visit the Gallaria Chesina and look at some amazing art
- Shopping at various stores and explore the town
- Dinner at Hotel Edelweiss
- Depart Guarda and take bus to train station
- Take train to Funicular.
- Guide Dave gets a lot of static from the conductor about having the wrong tickets.
- German lady that moved to Switzerland sits across from Tammy and I and starts a lengthy conversation with Tammy.
- Arrive at funicular and take it 1,000 feet up to start hike.
- Huge climb up to Segantini Hütte.
- Delicious lunch. I had Barley Soup.
- Hike traverse from hut through rock field and take upper trail.
- Mad rush down to chair lift before storm shows up and possibly shuts lift down.
- Get on lift and have a slow, cold, stormy, raining, anxiety producing lift ride.
- Rainy walk to hotel.
- Attempt to get cash and fail.
- Shop.
- Dinner at restaurant.
- Downtime in room.
- Jamie realizes that he has lost his wallet and that sort of sucks a bunch.
- Breakfast.
- Jamie asks front desk person to see if they can help with locating wallet. They have some ideas.
- Dave, one of our guides, attempts to find Jamie’s lost wallet by going back to the train station at Ardez. Sadly no luck.
- We take off for todays hike up to Piz Buin.
- Everyone else hikes down on the service road, Jamie takes a mountain scooter and has a blast.
- Jamie gets back early and decides wallet search is over. It is lost, time to move on.
- Tammy and Mazie explore the town and Tammy has an amazing find! 🤩
- Cold therapy for our tired feet.
- Nice dinner at Meisser Hotel.
- Cool evening back in the room, getting ready for an earlier morning tomorrow.
- Breakfast at Hotel Guardaval
- Depart at 9a for day of hiking
- Hike Scuol to Guarda. We ended hike at Ardez and took train and bus to Hotel Messier in Guarda
- Relax with Coca Cola on terrace of Hotel Messier
- Delicious dinner at Hotel Messier
Switzerland & Italy Log - Day 11
Weather: Started warm in the morning. Thunderstorms in Milan in afternoon. Warm in Venice.
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Switzerland & Italy Log - Day 10
Weather: Hot and hot
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Switzerland & Italy Log - Day 9
Weather: Warm and sunny in the morning.
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Hike to Soglio
Our sixth and final day of hiking into the beautiful town of Soglio.
Part of Switzerland & Italy 2023 collection. Also see Casaccia to Soglio from Europe 2004 Collection collection.
Switzerland & Italy Log - Day 8
Weather: Cool morning in Sils Maria. Big thunderstorm in mid-morning by Vicosoprano. Cloudy most of the day on trail. Nice on arrival into Soglio with heavy rain in later afternoon. Cool evening.
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Switzerland & Italy Log - Day 7
Weather: Very cool in the morning warming up through the day. Very pleasant all around.
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Switzerland & Italy Log - Day 6
Weather: Very cloudy with rain and thunder in morning. Clear through mid-day with additional heavy rain in late afternoon. Then cloudy and cool in the evening.
Split path for first half of today:
Family
Jamie
All Together Again
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Switzerland & Italy Log - Day 5
Weather: Cooler day. Very windy on the mountains today. Raced to chair lift before storm and lightning arrived.
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Switzerland & Italy Log - Day 4
Weather: Hot and sunny in the morning. Day cooled off a bit and was nicer in the mountains. Evening cool.
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Switzerland & Italy Log - Day 3
Weather: Warm and sunny. Cooler in mountains but still hot and sunny at prime of day. Evening clouds and breeze with much cooler temps.
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